$26B Pours Out Of US Equity ETFs In January

U.S. stocks had their best January performance since 1987, but ETF investors didn’t chase the rally. When all was said and done, they pulled $2.2 billion from U.S.-listed ETFs, the first January outflow since 2015.

It was a far cry from January 2018, when stocks also surged and investors plowed an eye-popping $68.1 billion into ETFs, the most ever for a single month.

In other words, investors bought aggressively at the market low and sold as the market spiked higher.

2 ETFs Drive Outflows

The relatively modest $2.2 billion outflow for January isn’t indicative of the big moves that took place beneath the surface. A whopping $25.5 billion came out of U.S.-listed equity ETFs, largely due to outflows from two funds.

Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.